Chasing a Lion
by Buddycomplex
Summary: She hunted a lion and found a dragon instead. AUisch NaLu
1. Chapter 1

**Chasing the Lion**

 **Natsu X Lucy**

Chapter One: 

The cobble stone path was slippery from the slight rain and moss. It did not help in the least that his shoes had seen better days and lost the now necessary grip for running around in Magnolia in the middle of the night with an unsettling, if only slight downpour. His breath came in harsh pants, he was to stressed out to care that he was actually hyperventilating. Cold sweat gathered just above his eyebrows and his eyes dilated from time to time. In a flash of clear thoughts, he abandoned the main street and headed towards one of the alleyways. He was unfamiliar with this part of the city. This alleyway looked like any other. Containers filled to the brim with garbage and a stench barely bearable. Impossible to stand for him. His senses were better than the average human or mage. Desperate for an escape plan, he stopped his sprint. The chances to escape now were basically none existing. What he thought what was an alleyway, proved to be the backyard of a restaurant with Balam speciality, if he had to guess from the smell. There was only one way out of the situation and that was to turn around and run straight into their arms. He could feel them breathing down his neck. They would catch up with him any moment.

Why did they show up now? He had been living like a free man for three years now. Granted he hid and ran whenever he caught a whiff of them, but why couldn´t they just leave him be? He was of no use for them any more. Curse his luck. He was about to lose his hope. Maybe he should just surrender to them.

The clacking of boots made him refocus on the issue on hand. He turned around and spotted a figure, still hidden in the dark slowly making its way to him. He or she was not running. They knew he couldn´t escape. He was completely at their mercy. He just hoped, that they were in a good mood. A prissy Wähler was no one to trifle with. If they were indeed one, he knew he would just roll over and prostrate himself like a fucking dog.

His breath hitched, the hyperventilation taking its toll.

The shadow took another step forward. He was the prey, something he never expected to happen to him. If he wasn´t actually kind of scared, he might have found this situation hilarious. It got even less funny, when he noticed them closing in. A black laced shoe shone in the spare light of the restaurant. The rest of _them_ still hidden.

A sudden creak of a window opening, broke the eerie silence that had enclosed them in a bubble, making them feel like they were the only humans on earth.

"I´ve gotcha, you fuckin´whore! So you´re the bitch who sleeps with my excuse of a husband!", an angry voice of a seemingly older woman shouted. A loud crash followed. It resembled glass hitting the concrete.

"No! This a misunderstanding!", another voice, female and much younger from the sound of it, replied. "I am just looking for a man, about -"

"So you´re a professional? I knew it! You look like a skank.", the lady yelled.

He was sure every person in a radius of three kilometres heard her.

"Excuse you? Being a professional is a very taxing job. I am not here for your husband, lady. I am sear-" "Like I would believe you! I know girls like you."

Unbeknownst to the two arguing ladies, he took his chance to escape. He didn´t want to be stuck with her out of all peoples. She was a nasty one. So he hid in the shadows and slipped by without anyone noticing. He heard another crash behind him, making him hurry up.

She only noticed his absence, when it was already to late. She could see the hem of his khaki jacket vanish behind the corner.

"Shit.", she muttered and was about to go and admit defeat for this night, when a porcelain tea cup headed towards her. Only a hair´s breadth she was able to avoid the flying object, that shattered into pieces seconds later. She had to run for cover or this madwoman would slit her throat open with flying saucer.

"If I see you here again-", the rest of the madwoman´s rant was left unheard as she high-tailed out of the backyard.

She just hoped not every citizen of Magnolia was like that or she would have an uncomfortable stay.

* * *

Lucy Heartfilia liked Magnolia. It was a cute city and known for several things like the Cardia cathedral or the eponymous flowers that blossomed all over said city. She especially liked the book store on a hidden street somewhere in the northern part of Magnolia. It was quite place, with a huge selection of rare books. Most people wouldn´t be interested in them, as they mainly contained knowledge about magic and beasts. No normal citizen would ever need to know, how to find a wyvern horn. While the immense knowledge stored in those books fascinated her, a small section dedicated to novels made heart beat faster and sent her into an almost delirious state. It did not matter, which book she would pick, all of them tended to be overwhelmingly good. Her mother always said, that she should be sparse with the good things in life or else they would become something ordinary. Nothing to cherish. While she usually abided the rules set by her mother almost religiously, she completely ignored it for the favour of reading the books.

She was only halfway through the first shelf, but she guessed it was okay. After all she had only been in Magnolia for two weeks.

Whenever Lucy entered the small store, she would first great the owner. Surprisingly it was a young man around her age. Not an old man, protecting his treasure. If this book store had not been her secret sanctuary, she would have flirted with him like there was no tomorrow. Johnny was a nice looking fellow after all. However getting rejected would make thing rather uncomfortable. Since she wanted to visit the store again, she refrained from doing so and simply watched him from time to time. She had priorities after all.

Lucy had a very specific ritual when it came to choosing and then reading her newly achieved book. First she would let her slender finger touch the backs of the books. Then she would take one with an interesting Title and open it in the middle. She wanted to be surprised by the book and sadly enough most synopsis at the back of the cover would tell her too much. Depending on whether she liked the writing style, she would either read it or shove it back into the shelf. That only applied to regular books stores though. Since she recently frequented this corner store, she could simply take a random book and had yet to be disappointed. After paying for her literature, - this time a local fairy tale-, and throwing one or two glances at Johnny Lemon, the store clerk, she headed towards a small café on the other side of the street. It was also fairly hidden and barely noticeable if you were not searching for this café. Lucy had been lucking enough to see a small girl with bright blue hair leave the book store -an insane amount of books in her arms- and enter the cute café. Around that time, her apartment had barely any furniture. It had been rather uncomfortable and cold. So she followed said girl and found herself in a little wonderland. A bit too pink, even for her taste, but it seemed cosy and friendly. She would choose the café over her apartment any day. Well not any more, but it became a habit to stay for another hour or so.

When she entered, a sweet smell wafted over to her. A waitress smiled at her, nodded and went behind the counter to start making the caramel latte. They knew her usual.

Lucky for her, her favourite place was still free, so it it was a no brainer, that she would settle down on the plush wing chair, that stood directly under a skylight. She loved being immersed in another world with the warmth of the sunlight on her back. It made the story feel even more magical. Her drink followed only seconds later. She looked up, to thank the waitress, that she noticed the blue haired girl on the other side of the room. She seemed to be just as immersed in her book as Lucy had been a few moments earlier. Smiling to herself, she took a sip and returned her concentration back to the book.

What felt like only a few minutes, but were in reality more like a few hours, she stood up and stretched her stiff body. Her neck made slight cracking noises as she rotated it. The sun from the skylight had dimmed noticeably, so she paid and was about to leave, when she noticed a thick book at the place where the blue haired girl had spent her time. Taking a look at the cover only told her that it was about dragon related species, but the rest was unreadable. It was probably an old or dead language. At least she did not recognize it.

"Ah, I think that girl is form Fairy Tail. She helped restoring the coloured glass panels of the cardia cathedral.", the waitress said and began wiping the slightly dirtied tables.

"I guess, I should visit them.", Lucy muttered, really ecstatic at the possibility to see the infamous Fairy Tail. She had no reason to go there up until now.

"You would do that? The book looks important, so I think they would appreciate it."

Lucy missed most of what the woman said, because she had already left the café.

Hopping along the streets, she made her way to the local magician guild, the book tightly gripped.

* * *

Her heels clacked loudly on the cobble stone as she made her way up to the guild. The big sign declared the huge building as the headquarters of Fairy Tail. Imposing figurines of fairies lined up, each one expressing another emotion. Lucy was already overwhelmed and she hadn´t seen the inside yet.

When she stood in front of the huge doors, studded with iron nails and branded with the Fairy Tail mark, she took a deep breath. She wanted to come across as nice as possible. After all Fairy Tail was probably filled with cool and outstanding people. While she could only remember the white haired Take over mage, she knew that there had to be at least one more person at her level. How was she supposed to stay cool, she wondered.

She pushed the door, it gave in after a strangled sound came from it. Someone should oil the hinges.

What she saw was not what she had expected. In front a her rowdy looking bunch fought each other, like the apocalypse was about to break out. She heard loud shouts, a few squeals and a groaning. She smelled sweat, blood and dust. She saw a few dozen mages beating the shit out of each other. Everything seemed to be fair deal. From throwing benches to flaming fists. One guy was even completely naked and a red haired woman seemed to chase him down with a winged lance. A flying cat for fucks sake nibbled on his fish and seemed to be highly amused. Lucy was not even disturbed by the odd colour of the cat. She was so distracted by the odd occurrence in front of her, that she did not notice the white haired woman approach her. Lucys mouth stood open, like a comic character. It was so cliché, it was not even funny any more.

When she felt someone tap her shoulder, she snapped out of it and came face to face with one of the more gifted persons in the universe. _At least in the looks department for now_ , she thought.

"Why don´t you come over to the bar and I will make you something tasty. How does that sound, hun?", the female mage asked, Lucy belatedly identified as Mirajane Strauss.

 _She´s nice!_

Mirajane took her by the shoulders and steered her still frozen mind towards the bar, where a few other female mages lounged around. Midway something unidentifiable flew towards them. Lucy cursed her luck. It seemed like she was a prime target for flying objects recently. Due to Miras quick reflexes she was able to avoid being hit directly. However there was now a boy lying in front her, seemingly dazed from the impact and tried to stand up. A light growl escaped his lips, when he rubbed over the already forming bump on his head.

"Shitty Icicle", he muttered. Blood trickled from the salmon hairline. With the same speed he came crushing down on the two girls, he stood up and was about to rejoin the brawl, when he noticed an unfamiliar scent. Turning around to Lucy, he started to gape at her. It was seriously creeping her out.

"I want 14 kids.", said the creep, looking at her with dazed eyes. His fall probably still made him dizzy.

"Good for you, I guess?", she replied, unsure how the weird boy in front of her to react. Was this some kind of initiation ritual? Seeking help, she turned to the bartender behind her, but the Take Over mage simply smiled and gave her a light push.

"I-I m-mean, I w-want- I- I would be o-okay with ten."

 _This is getting ridiculous!_

While she could admit, that the boy in front of her was hot as hell, he seemed to be total nut case or the fall did real damage and he was really confused.

She watched him, how he ruffled his hair in despair and then slapped his palm against his forehead.

"Uh- I´m Natsu. Hi.", he said, but Lucy had already taken Miras hand to escape the strange situation. She was used to quite a lot, but it seemed that she would never stop learning something new about this world. She did not look back and therefore missed the stunned gaze of him follow her. Or how a naked man started to teased the brain fried Natsu.

Mira quickly began to work for the promised drink behind the counter, but kept smiling whenever she caught their resident salmon mage staring at the newcomer.

Lucy had made herself comfortable on one of the bar stools, at least how comfortable one could be, when a stranger started to burn holes in the back of her head.

"So hun, what brings you to our humble guild? I am Mirajane by the way.", said woman asked. The smile ever present, but seemed to be a bit strained for a moment. Lucy of course knew who the mage behind the counter was.

"Lucy. Uh- one of your mages has left her book at this café just a few streets away. It seemed important, so I- uh.", she stammered. What the hell was wrong with her? She was seriously behaving weird. Maybe she hit her head too hard?

"Oh! That would be probably Levy´s. She has been searching for it for the last hour or so.

I´ll call her, so please wait a second.", Mira told her and quickly dried her hands on the apron, before hurrying up to get to one of the lower levels.

Now Lucy sat alone, stranded in weird guild filled with even weirder mages and kind of wanted to go back in her cozy bed.

That is, until she spotted the man, who made her heart stop for second.

Without thinking her next actions through, she lounged across the hall. He would not escape this time.

"Take responsibility, you fucker!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chasing a Lion

 _Thank you for the Reviews. They made me really happy._

 _Have fun reading this chapter XD_

Chapter Two:

Natsu had known something was different, when he woke up that fateful day. Surprisingly he even showered, even though the washing day was still a few days away. He even went to the guild earlier than usual, his partner Happy still asleep. When he arrived at the guild hall, he had actually ignored the ice princess in favour of sitting down on of the bar stools in the far corner, away from his rumbustious family. He was aware that he had been acting weird thorough the whole day. Even his appetite had been close to normal. For some reason he left the fatty parts untouched. Instead of throwing them away, he had asked Mira to store them away for later. After his request Mira started to look at him, like he had grown a second head. Just like the ice cream mage. And all the other early birds of Fairy Tail.

Ignoring the even weirder behaviour of his guild mates, he looked at the mission request board, but ended up without choosing one. While the unknown urge to earn money was there, an unknown force overwhelmed him and made him stay. He couldn´t explain why he felt so weird. Or why he felt like he was preparing for something. Which was actually a hilarious thought, since he never prepared anything for something. Natsu even considered to go to Makarov and ask for help. He was freaking himself out.

The rest of the morning was spent with various musings about things he never thought of before. By midday, the dragon fire mage contemplated whether to buy a larger hammock or to clean his house a little bit.

Not noticing that he had actually spoke his thoughts out loud, he actually flipped every alarm switch in the ice mage, who had been ordering something to drink at the bar and therefore been close enough to hear.

"Dude, the fuck is wrong. Your house is a fucking dumpster. Like it would matter, if you clean or not."

That was the fire Natsu actually needed to get back to his track. Unknowingly Gray had just insulted the fire mages hoard. One may argue about the value of the hoard, but to Natsu it was important nonetheless. Before Gray could utter another sentence, Natsus fists lit up and headed towards the bare torso of the ice mage. Gray barely managed to dodge, but noticed that the force behind the blow was heavier then usual. Was that guy out to kill him or something? When another fist came crushing towards him, he knew he would have to go further than usual. There was no way that he would let himself getting overpowered by the flame brain.

Not caring where his powerful flames actually hit, Natsu continued to throw some punches that had it in them. The rampaging fire mage lured other powerful mages to join the fight between those two. Erza was surprisingly the first one, who joined in, closely followed by a smirking Gajeel and very motivated Elfman. "Bar fights are manly!", the Strauss brother had screamed before throwing his huge fists at anyone who dared to challenge him. The iron dragon slayer used the momentary distraction the bulky man caused to sneak behind the male members of team Shadow gear to flip over their table. Outraged cries were heard throughout guild hall and a seconds later, Jet and Droy joined in as well, unaware that Gajeel had already been hunting the next prey.

Meanwhile Gray had shed the remaining clothes, infuriating an already furious Erza even more, who summoned a lance upon seeing the naked body of the ice mage.

"Inappropriate behaviour!", she huffed and hurled the sharp metal at the unsuspecting Gray, who was still fighting off the flames that somehow always found their way to him.

Maybe he should have stayed home today.

Busy with the fighting none of them noticed, when the door opened. No one noticed the blonde haired girl enter the guild hall, except for their beloved bartender. Not even one dragon slayer recognized the unknown scent. Under other circumstances they would be watching any unknown person passing the gates of Fairy Tail like a hawk. This time their brawl took away all of their attention. It was actually heavier than the usual skirmishes they had. So when Gray hit the salmon haired mage with a weaker version of the _Ice Make: Ice cannon_ , Natsu had not expected to land in front of a blonde unknown girl, that could apparently sent his instincts to overdrive and make him spill the most ridiculous things. So after demanding a possible but still over the top amount of kids, even though he originally just wanted to tell her his name, he just wanted to crawl in the next hole or travel through time. After correcting the numbers of kids he wanted to have with her, he was finally able to introduce himself, but got no name in return. It kind of disheartened him, but he quickly snapped out of it. His eyes never left her, even if she did her best to avoid his gaze, when she and Mira actually had the nerve to create a distance between them, he was tempted to head over to them and actually attempt a real talk with the blonde. He couldn´t figure out why he was so taken with her. A girl he didn´t even know the name of. It couldn´t have been her smell, because he wasn´t particular fond of strawberries, though he had to admit that he considered to change his opinion on the fruit. A feeling in his gut told him, he would be smelling it more often from now on. He trusted his gut feelings. They had yet to disappoint him.

He barely registered the half naked man standing next to him. Apparently Gray had found his boxers and actually wore them, but it would be only a matter of time before they would be dropped on the floor. The ice mage was already tugging on his waistband.

"Have you finally reached puberty, fire snot?", Gray taunted the dragon raised boy, but barely got any reaction out of him, his mind being completely occupied by the girl, sitting down on the stool where he had been sitting before the brawl had broken out. This had to be fate!

"He liiiiiiiiiikes her."

He would not deny it. Natsu hadn´t even notice Happy coming to the guild, so he was quite startled, when Happy hovered next to Gray with an evil smile, hidden behind his tiny blue paw. Forgetting his partner in crime, such a thing had never happen before. The exceed could take care of himself, but it still irked his protective instincts. Happy was nest after all.

While Happy and Gray still made fun of him, his thoughts however drifted back to the blonde, his focus becoming so intense that he actually forgot the blood dripping down his forehead. Sadly enough, he noticed, she didn´t even spare a glance in his direction. He wanted her to see him. Him and not the creep, he had been seconds before. He had to admit, he had outdone himself for once, never before had he acted this strange before and this was coming from someone who was strange on a daily basis. Maybe he should consider a visit to Porlyusica. Watching her lounging at the bar, being her natural self, made him hungry. He couldn´t tell, why but it felt different. It was not the kind of hunger he felt, when his magic resources were depleted nor the hunger he usually felt most of the time.

Damn, what was wrong with him?

"Natsu?" Happy sounded worried. Only now did he notice that his best friend had sat down on his unruly salmon locks and pushed his paws against his scalp, as if he wanted to give a massage to Natsu. "Are you sick?"

"N-no, I´m fine, I think...", Natsu replied still unfocused. The noise of stool hitting the floor, broke him finally out of the daze.

The blonde vixen muttered something under her breath, he could hear her heartbeat quicken and her eyes were wide open in shock. What could have made her react like that? His gaze followed the direction she was looking and suddenly it slammed in his gut like a train.

He took in the air sharply.

Loke, along with a girl in each arm, was causally sitting on the other side of the guild hall, throwing perverted jokes left and right and seemed to have the time of his life.

Dots connected within Natsus brain and apparently it also happened with the blonde, whose name he still did not know. Maybe she was his ex-girlfriend?

"Take responsibility, you fucker!", she screamed and ran towards the unsuspecting male. She looked furious. Anger blazed in her brown eyes. When she reached the table, where the playboy was, still unaware of the situation, despite the fact that every other member of Fairy Tail had directed their attention towards the raging blonde, he first smirked at her in usual fashion, before the realization that he actually knew her dawned upon him. Faster than anyone had ever seen the ring mage move, he pushed himself from the bench, just in time to avoid a powerful punch, enough to slightly splinter the wood. The girls, who had been entertained by Loke, only seconds before slide to the sides of the bench, like they were already used to attacks like that.

Loke, who was lying on his back, as he basically somersaulted backwards to save his sexy ass, raised his hands in appeasement, hoping to calm the blonde down. She would have none of it. Instead she raised her fist and plunged down towards his chest. None of those present, expected what would happen next. The fist did not stop at the first instance of resistance. It dove right into the ribcage, where the heart lied. They expected a bloody fist to resurface, along with the cracking noise of the broken bones, but no drop of blood was shed. Loke was equally as stunned as the rest of them. Natsu stood frozen and stared at the weird situation in front of him.

Strands of her blonde hair fell out of place and covered her face, but Natsu had seen her smile in the split second. It was mesmerising.

"Lucy!", the shocked outcry of Mira, broke the rest of them out of their reverie. Erza dashed ahead, a shimmer in her hand forming into a sword. Without thinking for a second, Natsu followed.

The red haired mage crouched low and swung her blade at Lucy. He finally knew her name, but for now he would be happy about it only in his mind.

Lucy noticed the attack almost too late and barely dodged. Her cheek got nicked by the sharp blade and blood flowed for real now. Erza adjusted her grip on the sword slightly, before starting another blow, only for it to get blocked by flaming fists.

"What are you doing, Natsu?", Titania growled. She could probably make the mighty fire dragon Igneel cower in fear, though Natsu would rather die than admit that out loud.

"Uhm, well...", he could not come up with an answer that would spare him getting pummelled to death by Erza.

When he felt Lucy shift behind him, he leaned more to the righten side to cover her with his body, though he failed gloriously. She simply shoved him aside.

"I have not hurt him.", she explained, showing her hands as an evident. No red spot stained her hands. Only a golden ring on her ring finger and a golden key with some weird ornaments attached to it were there.

Erza narrowed her eyes. She refused to believe some stranger, who thought it would be a good idea to attack one of her family. Even if he was a no good skirt-chaser.

"Look at him", she urged the red haired women.

Erza hesitated, but looked at the victim of Lucys attack, despite her inner self proceeded to to tell her, that she should take out the possible threat first.

The two unknown girls squatted down next to the still immobile Loke, who stared at his chest with an unidentifiable emotion. It did not quite look like shock, more something between resistance and resignation.

"I guess, I got caught.", he muttered, still looking at his chest, where an arm had been shoved through minutes before.

Uncertainty flashed over Erzas features, but quickly hid them, before anyone could have noticed it.

"I only did my job, okay?" , Lucys hands were still raised in surrender.

Natsu, who had been pushed to the side lines, was pushed out of the way once more and tiny man made his way to the two women, who had entered a staring contest.

"Erza, drop it.", he demanded and pushed her raised sword with his wooden staff away. "She is a Wähler. She is only doing what she promised to do."

"A what now?", Natsu whispered. This was all going way over his head. Makarov still heard him. " A Wähler, someone who collects celestial keys."

"Among other things.", Loke added, as he tried to sit upright. A groan left his lips and his body felt stiff and alien. All attention was now directed at him.

"Leo the Lion, I have searched for you for three years. For three years, you´ve been neglecting your responsibilities.", Lucy stated. Her anger came of in waves. It was so potent, that Natsu could smell it.

"I-I just don´t want something like that to happen again", Loke explained and ran his hand over his face. "I just wanted freedom for a small while. I mean, you haven´t found someone yet, right?"

Lucy flinched. Whatever that mean, it made her firm posture waver for a second.

"As long as there is no one, who is worthy enough, can´t you allow me to stay with Fairy Tail? I am here on my own magic"

Loke sounded desperate as he begged the blonde to show mercy and grant his wish.

Lucy knew that Leo would never ask for that, without actually meaning it. Technically she could do that, since she had his key, but would his safety be assured in a rowdy guild like this? She knew that Fairy Tail did everything for their members, but did it still hold true even if Leo was not even human and had lied about it?

"Why don´t you join Fairy Tail?", someone behind her screamed. When she turned around, she saw the weird salmon haired guy grinning at her, as if he had presented the best idea ever. "That way, he could stay and you´re close enough to watch him."

"Not possible. I have to look for other keys and-"

"We will help ya!", he interrupted her refusal.

She shook her head at his brash nature, her brows furrowing.

"That wouldn´t be the only reason, why I can´t join Fairy Tail.", her voice was shaky, losing the confidence with every word that left her rosy lips.

A hand ghosted over her cheek, so careful, as if the owner was actually afraid of hurting her and mere thought of breathing was enough to shatter her.

"Why?", the husky voice that belonged to the fire dragon slayer mage resounded through her body, making every cell of her body hum along.

A shaky intake of air, that was reminiscence of someone who was about to cry. She looked up and stared in his onyx eyes.

"I can´t use magic."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chasing a Lion**

 **Chapter 3:**

"I can´t use magic."

Lucy took a step back, magicians had the tendency to dislike non-magic users. At least this guild started to whisper. She could hear the rumours breeding. The salmon haired guy, that had been behaving strange ever since she entered the guild, lifted his head. It almost looked like he was sniffing like a dog. Confusion replaced the concentration, as he finished whatever he had been doing there. The redhaired women, who Lucy assumed was the famous or infamous -depending on the perspective- Fairy Tails Titania, Erza Scarlett, raised her sword in a threating manner. Lucy felt like the women wanted to hunt her down. Before the stranger with pink hair could open his mouth, the tiny man with a funny hat jumped in between them and grunted. "Children calm down."

"But master!", Titania cried out. "This girl attacked a guild member, she must face punishment for attacking him."

"And we should hear her out. I am sure she has a reason for doing this.", the guild master turned around and faced the blonde girl that seemed to a bit lost among the sea of people watching the situation to unfold. "You do have a good reason for doing this, right Lucky Lucy Heartfilia?

Calling her by her moniker made her break out of the trance like state in an instant. "How do you know who I am?" The old man smiled at the question, but it was only a mild one. "I knew your mother. You look exactly like her and how else was I supposed to know what you are." Lucy did not answer to that. It was unnecessary, the implications of the statement were clear. "We should go to my office and talk this out." A gesture and she followed him without protest. Mira had taken the liberty to force the crowd apart. Lucy felt a warm presence appear next to her and had almost expected the pink haired one to follow them. She kind of felt bad for brushing him off like that, despite his obvious effort to comfort her. Duty called however and if this whole thing could go in a favourable way, then she had to disregard kindness from time to time. The office held a slight smell of dust, alcohol and ink. Lucy was used to the elegant office of her father and not this kind of hole in a wall thing. Makarov took his place behind the desk, although he had to sit on a couple thick books, so he wouldn´t be dwarfed by the heavy oak.

"So, you have taken on the mission your late mother has left you with?"

* * *

Natsu fidgeted. He felt stressed out and really nervous about the whole situation. After Lucy disappeared behind the heavy door of the guild masters office, a sense of unfulfillment settled inside his body. While he had never been the most patient person to begin with, the absence of her made him skittish and unable to focus. He felt like he should do something for her and even stranger, groom himself for her. Only after a slap from Mira, he stopped licking the back of his hand. His gaze wandered to Erza, who stood close to the door and seemed to listen in to everything they said inside the office, although every guild member knew that these walls were sound proofed.

Happy flew around her head and seemed to bother the reequip mage, but she simply swatted the annoyance away. The blue cat had still not found out about the dangers of angering Fairy Tails strongest. Minutes passed, but there was no sign of the office door reopening.

Gray did not like to admit it, but the strange behaviour of his frenemy made him suspicious, but only after some encouragement from Lisanna, he dared to walk up to Natsu, who sat at bar and looked like a drowned cat. "What the hell is wrong with you, dude? Did the idiot catch a cold? "

"Shut the fuck up, Ice bitch. I am busy.", growled Natsu and gave a little shove to the Ice mage, who did not take kindly to the insult. It basically screamed for a battle. If it had been anyone else in this guild to chat up the fire dragon slayer, the young man wouldn´t even have flinched. Surprisingly Grays ability to get a rouse out of him was unrivalled. It was the anger only a sibling could summon. Almost instantly, a flaming fist shot out and mere seconds later, the whole guild entered their third brawl of the day and Natsu hit harder than anyone else. He had to be the strongest. Especially stronger then Gray and the other males of the guild.

"QUIET", the voice of Makarov reverberated through the guild hall and everything instantly went still. Confused glances were thrown around and harsh panting came from one or two exhausted members, but other than that it was quiet.

"Lucy Heartfilia has now formed a contract with the Fairy Tail Guild for a long-term mission. The requirement is an S-class mage or a group of mages, who accompany and protect her on her journey to collect the twelve golden Zodiac keys. Lucy is a Wähler, whose job it is to collect the keys and find a suitable wielder", Makarov explained with a serious voice. "The payment will be managed by the Heartfilia railway company and rewar-"

"I´ll take it!", Natsu interrupted and stepped forward with determination in every step. Lucy couldn´t but raise an eyebrow at the rumbustious young male in front of her.

"No, I will take this mission. You are not even an S-level mage nor do you have a group.", Erza pushed Natsu out of the way and continued onwards, until she stopped in front of the blonde girl. "You still did not explain, why you thought it was necessary to attack a member of this guild."

An unsure sideway glance from Lucy towards the assaulted guild member, made Loke step forward. He looked just as unsure and slightly scared about what was to come as Lucy. Without releasing his gaze from the buxom blonde, he started to explain. "I am one of the zodiac keys, I am Leo the Lion Spirit and Lucy just extracted my key." Disbelieve made its way through the rows of mages.

Erza harrumphed and looked back at Lucy. "I believe this is a more complicated matter and should be discussed at a later time. Meet me tomorrow at nine sharp in front of the guild. I know a protected place with no disturbances."

Was this woman a drill sergeant? Honestly Lucy was exhausted.

* * *

Three hours had passed after Lucy had left guild hall. They were still confused by what happened, although Makarov assured them that everything was okay. Erza had disappeared shortly after the blonde contractor with the claims of having to prepare something before meeting Lucy. Most guild members, however, knew that Erza left as quickly as possible, because their resident fire dragon slayer decided to bother the shit out of her with his never-ending streams of begging. Apparently, he wished to take over the mission. After hitting the pink haired nuisance with the knob of her sword, and therefore effectively knocking him out, the Titania was gone before Natsus limp body could hit the wooden floor. Roughly two hours later, Natsu woke up with a startling scream. "Erza, fight me!", he had screamed, and it took quiet a while for him to calm down. Currently he was sitting at a desk in the middle of the guild, that had somehow managed to survive the harsh temperament of the guild. Happy talked animatedly to the white cat, that remained stubbornly on the lap of a small dark blue haired girl. Wendy must have returned from her training during his state of unconsciousness.

"Hey Charle, I got a fish for you", Happy said proudly and took a bright red coloured fish from his back pouch. "I don´t like fish, Happy. Not now or ever."

Natsu however did not catch the disappointed look on his companion's face, nor did he catch the sparkling tears of the blue cat. Instead he almost somersaulted from his bench and headed in a beeline towards the bar, where Mira was wiping the counter.

"Mira! I need the fatty parts! She looks like she likes the fat.", Natsu demanded and stormed off after he received his offering, in search of the blonde girl that might have stolen his heart.

 _So, here it is…. I admit, it is far from the best I can do, but I am kind of out of practice._

 _I thought long about revealing the meaning behind Wähler, but decided to tell you, because I honestly don´t know if I it comes up in the story. Wähler is german for chooser, the one who chooses and is also used in a political sense (elector). In this case, it is about her choosing the one who is suitable to be the next wielder of the golden keys. I used a german word for two reasons. Mangas/Animes seem to use it a lot for spells and the likes. Like Erzas Blumenblatt (flower petal) or Gottfried. I thought it would be funny. The second reason is that I am from Germany and well thought that it would be funny._

 _Well then, till next time_

 _Buddycomplex_


End file.
